BRIEFING Education and Training for the Information Technology Workforce: Report to Congress From th

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BRIEFING Education and Training for the
Information Technology WorkforceReport to
Congress From the Secretary of Commerce

• U.S. Department of Commerce
• September 2003

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Study Methodology

• Formal Request for Comments From Public
• Federal Register Notice
• Web Based Survey WWW.TA.DOC.GOV/ITTRAINING
• Stakeholder Roundtables (145 participants)
• One-On-One Meetings With Stakeholders
• Site Visits
• Literature Review
• Analysis of Pertinent Data
• Total Participants 460

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Overview

• Demand for IT Workers in Terms ofEducation and
  Skill Requirements
• IT Education and Training Landscape
• Role of Employers and Employees

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Demand for IT Workers in Terms ofEducation and
Skill Requirements Niche Labor Market for IT
Workers
Education
Technical Skills
Experience
Business, Soft Skills
5
Demand for IT Workers in Terms ofEducation and
Skill RequirementsExample Sr. Information
Architect
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Education and Skill Requirements

• Education
• Deep foundational knowledge less immediate
  practical skills
• Important to career advancement
• More than 2/3rds have bachelors degree
• Majority in science/engineering

• Technical Skills
• Numerous and diverse
• Market-based
• Rapid advances drive new skill demands,
  frequent skills upgrading
• Near term needs

• Experience
• Risk mitigator
• Validation of ability to apply theoretical
  knowledge
• Value of hands-on, work-study, internships

• ITs ubiquity throughout company
• Centrality of IT to core business functions
• Business-focused vs. tech-focused
• Career advancement, especially to
  management

Business, Soft Skills
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IT Education and Training LandscapeSources of
IT Education and Training

• IT Bachelors Degrees
• IT-Related Minors
• Combined IT Bachelors/ Masters Degree Programs
• IT-Related Masters of Science Programs
• Techno MBAs
• Two-Year IT Degrees at Community Colleges
• IT Certificate Programs

• Private, For-Profit Education and Training
  Institutions
• Vendor and Vendor-neutralIT Certification
• Federal, State and Regional IT Training
  Initiatives
• Boot Camps and Seminars
• Employer Programs
• On-Line, CD-ROM, Books
• The Churn

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• IT Bachelors Degrees
• 5,000-19,000 annually
• IT workers say technical degree valuable
• Weak on
• Practical, hands-on experience
• Business skills
• Linking learning to business problems
• Sometimes equipment and software are out of date

• IT-Related Master of Science
• New Types Emerging
• Specialized industrial/technology applications
• Business issues
• Examples
• Biomedical Informatics
• E-Commerce
• Scientific Computing
• Information Security
• Multi-media

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Techno-MBAs
• Integration of management and technical knowledge
• Business value of technology and its contribution
  to the bottom line
• Generally, for techies who want to move into
  management (as CEO, entrepreneur, CTO, CIO)
• Some offer specialization (e-commerce, MIS,
  managing people in technical environment, etc.)
• Average annual cost 12,000 in state, 21,000
  out of state

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Sources of IT Education and Training
Community Colleges

• Transfer Programs
• 2 year computer science degrees
• Transfer to 4-year programs, but all credits may
  not transfer
• Some articulation agreements in place

• Terminal Programs
• 2 year degrees
• Offered in specialties
• Programming
• Database Admin.
• Networking
• Technical Support
• Job-oriented, Practical Knowledge
• Some soft skills
• Internships/work-study

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Community Colleges
• Good value
• Easy access
• Offer practical knowledge and skills
• Sometimes too simple
• Sometimes not enough soft skills
• Teachers may not be up-to-date
• Increasingly as retraining by workers who do not
  complete requirements for degree or certificate

12
Sources of IT Education and Training

• IT Certificate Programs
• Offered at universities and community colleges
• Provide in-depth teaching in IT specialty,
  technical skill or vendor technology
• Networking, e-commerce, IT security
• Java, C
• Oracle databases
• Introductory, intermediate, and advanced program
  levels
• Especially good for adding depth/new skill
  component
• More linked to jobs and careers than advanced
  degree programs
• May require completing as many as 10 courses
• No standard meaning for credential

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Private, For-Profit
• Education and Training Institutes
• DeVry, Chubb, ITT Technical Institutes, Strayer,
  NETg
• Presence nationwide
• Offer AA, BA, MS degrees certificates
• Workplace focused teach business and technical
  skills
• Use latest technologies
• Have industry instructors with current experience
• Programs are expensive

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Vendor and Vendor-neutral IT Certifications
• About 300 IT certifications
• Typically training for competency on vendor
  equipment
• Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, CompTIA, Novell are
  popular
• Offered at commercial training schools, community
  colleges, universities, high schools
• Classroom programs authorized by vendors
• Training also available on Internet, CD-ROM,
  books, etc.
• Must pass tests training may not be required at
  all

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Vendor and Vendor-neutral IT Certifications
• Vendor Authorized Programs
• Intensive and current
• In-step with industry directions
• Teachers up-to-date, often worked in industrial
  setting may lack pedagogical skills
• Sometimes too focused on test preparation
• Expensive though large variability in
  program/cost and length

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Boot Camps and Seminars
• Few hours to few weeks
• Variety of providers and class locations
• Learning Tree a biggie
• Long days, homework, lecture, labs, exams
• Time effective
• Intensive, current, in-step with industry
  directions
• Teachers up-to-date, often worked in industry
• Programs are expensive
• Not long-term development good for picking up
  new technical skill, or technical discipline

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• Employer Programs
• Some large employers have developed grow your
  own programs
• They are
• Linked closely to the business with customized
  training
• Long-term
• Expensive
• Very careful screening
• High potential candidates

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Sources of IT Education and Training

• On-line, CD-ROM, Books, etc.
• On-line IT training increasingly available
• Wide variety of CD-ROM, books, tutorials
• IT workers like self-study
• Comparison for MCSE
• Self-study (books and practice exam)
  1,000-1,800
• CBT/On-line 1,900-3,300
• Instructor-led, classroom 7,000-19,300
• Comparison for Oracle DBA
• Self-study 1,100-1,400
• CBT/On-line 2,000-2,500
• Instructor-led, classroom 7,100-13,800

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Role of Employers, Employees in IT Education and
TrainingFindings Employees

• IT workers have lions share of responsibility
  for their own training/career development
  (direction, time money)
• Little time for training on company time IT
  workers spend significant amount of personal time
  to keep skills up-to-date
• IT workers report
• cost and time as the most significant barriers to
  maintaining skills
• difficulty balancing training cost and time
  requirements with their personal lives, family
  obligations
• spending 4-5 hours (even up to 10 hours) per week
  keeping skills up-to-date
• some difficulty accessing training due to
  infrequency of offerings, and the time of day and
  place training offered
• a mix of employer support (level and type) for
  training
• barriers to accessing Federal resources to attend
  IT training programs
• strong inclination for self-study, OJT

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What Workers Say Works for Them

• Not cramming too much into too little time
• Programs that are hands-on
• Trainers who are up-to-date, with real world
  experience
• Focus on teaching in the context of a project or
  solving a business problem
• Applying newly learned skills immediately use it
  or lose it

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Be a Savvy Shopper!

• Wide variation in time
• Wide variation in total cost
• MCSE prep, 240 hours 3,657 to 8,000
• CCNA prep 899 to 6,230
• Wide variation in cost per hour
• MCSE prep 8.27 to 58.82
• CCNA prep 9.33 to 65.00
• Wide variation in content, focus

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Be a Savvy Shopper!
Certificate in Object-Oriented Programming Using
C University 1 University 2 University
3 Required Courses 4 2 5 Electives 2 2 2 Hours of
Instruction 180 120 185 Cost 6,130 4,180 3,690
Cost per hour 34.05 34.83 19.95
Certificate in Database Management University
1 University 2 University 3 University 4 Required
Courses 4 3 4 3 Electives 1 1 2 0 Hours of
Instruction 104 130 225 90 Cost 5,075 4,380 3,7
08 1,686 Cost per hour 48.80 33.69 16.48 18.7
3
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• DOWNLOAD SITE
• www.technology.gov/reports/ITWF2003.pdf
• POINTS OF CONTACT

John Sargent 202-482-6185 jsargent_at_ta.doc.gov
Carol Ann Meares 202-482-0940 cmeares_at_ta.doc.gov
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Academic Profile of Professional-level IT
Workers Shows Strong SE Component
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Technical Skills in DemandGrowing array of
general/specialized IT products driving demand
for specific technical knowledge

• Programming/Software Engineering
• Java
• C
• C
• Visual Basic
• XML
• HTML
• Unix
• Windows NT/2000
• Linux
• SQL
• Perl
• Active Server Pages
• CGI
• JavaScript
• Solaris

• Data Base Development Administration
• Oracle
• SQL Server
• DB2/UDB
• Sybase
• Informix
• Access
• Technical Support
• Windows NT/2000/98
• Unix
• Microsoft Applications
• LAN/WAN
• Novell Netware
• TCP/IP
• PC Hardware

• Network Design and Administration
• Cisco Products
• Novell Netware
• Windows NT/2000
• Unix
• Linux
• SNA
• IPX
• Routing
• LAN/WAN
• TCP/IP
• Ethernet
• Ethernet Switching
• 10 Base-T Switching
• Virus protection, firewalls
• Client/server technology
• Data network protocols
• Internet connectivity
• Intranets

• Web Development Subset
• Java
• JavaBeans
• Java Server Pages
• Active Server Pages
• Visual Basic
• XML
• HTML
• JavaScript
• CGI
• Perl
• Cold Fusion

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CertificationsProliferation of vendor-neutral
and vendor-specific certifications

• Cisco
• Cisco Certified Network Association (1 exam)
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (in
  addition, 2 long exams, or 4 shorter exams)
• Cisco Certified Internet Expert (in addition, 1
  exam and practical lab exam)
• Microsoft
• Microsoft Certified Professional (1 exam)
• Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (4
  exams)
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (7 exams)
• Microsoft Certified Data Base Administrator (4
  exams)
• Microsoft Certified Applications Developer (3
  exams)
• Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (5 exams)
• Oracle
• Oracle Certified Associate (2 exams)
• Oracle Certified Professional (in addition, 2
  exams)
• Oracle Certified Master (course work, 2 day lab)

• CompTIA
• A
• I-Net
• Network
• Server
• Linux
• IT Project
• e-Biz
• Secruity
• Novell
• Certified Novell Administrator
• Certified Novell Engineer
• Master Certified Novell Engineer